Robert Novak Reveals Sources for Plame "Outing"
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 08:53PM *Scroll down for updates*
Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak revealed today the names of the three sources responsible for the Valerie Plame outing. Guess who one is: Joe Wilson, Plame’s hubby. Here is Novak’s article.
My Role in the Valerie Plame Leak StorySpecial Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret.
I have cooperated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic privileges under the First Amendment and shield sources who have not revealed themselves. I have been subpoenaed by and testified to a federal grand jury. Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue.
For nearly the entire time of his investigation, Fitzgerald knew — independent of me — the identity of the sources I used in my column of July 14, 2003. A federal investigation was triggered when I reported that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, was employed by the CIA and helped initiate his 2002 mission to Niger. That Fitzgerald did not indict any of these sources may indicate his conclusion that none of them violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Some journalists have badgered me to disclose my role in the case, even demanding I reveal my sources — identified in the column as two senior Bush administration officials and an unspecified CIA source. I have promised to discuss my role in the investigation when permitted by the prosecution, and I do so now.
The news broke Sept. 26, 2003, that the Justice Department was investigating the CIA leak case. I contacted my longtime attorney, Lester Hyman, who brought his partner at Swidler Berlin, James Hamilton, into the case. Hamilton urged me not to comment publicly on the case, and I have followed that advice for the most part.
The FBI soon asked to interview me, prompting my first major decision. My attorneys advised me that I had no certain constitutional basis to refuse cooperation if subpoenaed by a grand jury. To do so would make me subject to imprisonment and inevitably result in court decisions that would diminish press freedom, all at heavy personal legal costs.
I was interrogated at the Swidler Berlin offices Oct. 7, 2003, by an FBI inspector and two agents. I had not identified my sources to my attorneys, and I told them I would not reveal them to the FBI. I did disclose how Valerie Wilson’s role was reported to me, but the FBI did not press me to disclose my sources.
On Dec. 30, 2003, the Justice Department named Fitzgerald as special prosecutor. An appointment was made for Fitzgerald to interview me at Swidler Berlin on Jan. 14, 2004. The problem facing me was that the special prosecutor had obtained signed waivers from every official who might have given me information about Wilson’s wife.
That created a dilemma. I did not believe blanket waivers in any way relieved me of my journalistic responsibility to protect a source. Hamilton told me that I was sure to lose a case in the courts at great expense. Nevertheless, I still felt I could not reveal their names.
However, on Jan. 12, two days before my meeting with Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor informed Hamilton that he would be bringing to the Swidler Berlin offices only two waivers. One was by my principal source in the Valerie Wilson column, a source whose name has not yet been revealed. The other was by presidential adviser Karl Rove, whom I interpret as confirming my primary source’s information. In other words, the special prosecutor knew the names of my sources.
When Fitzgerald arrived, he had a third waiver in hand — from Bill Harlow, the CIA public information officer who was my CIA source for the column confirming Mrs. Wilson’s identity. I answered questions using the names of Rove, Harlow and my primary source.
I had a second session with Fitzgerald at Swidler Berlin on Feb. 5, 2004, after which I was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury. I testified there at the U.S. courthouse in Washington on Feb. 25.
In these four appearances with federal authorities, I declined to answer when the questioning touched on matters beyond the CIA leak case. Neither the FBI nor the special prosecutor pressed me.
I have revealed Rove’s name because his attorney has divulged the substance of our conversation, though in a form different from my recollection. I have revealed Harlow’s name because he has publicly disclosed his version of our conversation, which also differs from my recollection. My primary source has not come forward to identify himself.
When I testified before the grand jury, I was permitted to read a statement that I had written expressing my discomfort at disclosing confidential conversations with news sources. It should be remembered that the special prosecutor knew their identities and did not learn them from me.
In my sworn testimony, I said what I have contended in my columns and on television: Joe Wilson’s wife’s role in instituting her husband’s mission was revealed to me in the middle of a long interview with an official who I have previously said was not a political gunslinger. After the federal investigation was announced, he told me through a third party that the disclosure was inadvertent on his part.
Following my interview with the primary source, I sought out the second administration official and the CIA spokesman for confirmation. I learned Valerie Plame’s name from Joe Wilson’s entry in “Who’s Who in America.”
I considered his wife’s role in initiating Wilson’s mission, later confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee, to be a previously undisclosed part of an important news story. I reported it on that basis.
Others blogging this story:
Amy Proctor
Robert Novak appeared with Fox News’ Brit Hume last night for an exclusive interview about his sources which revealed the name of Valerie Plame.
Watch the Video I Watch the Video II
(video provided by Ms Underestimated)
Robert Novak also appeared on Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes.
(hat tip: Expose the Left)
Here are a few points to remember as this investigation now comes to a close.
Joe Wilson is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. Wilson claimed VP Dick Cheney asked him to travel to Niger to investigate the intelligence claim that Iraq did indeed seek uranium from Niger, as Pres. Bush asserted in his 2003 State of the Union address. Novak says the reason he sought the person responsible for sending Joe Wilson is because Wilson was an unlikely person to send on such a mission and it was a possible violation of anti-nepotism law. Novak investigated, and it was confirmed that Wilson lied; it was not Cheney who sent him to Niger, but someone in the CIA from the WMD unit. Valerie Plame’s name was inadvertently communicated to Novak as being the sender. This was obviously problematic. Novak easily learned from the CIA that Plame is Wilson’s wife.
Joe Wilson returned and wrote this op-ed the New York Times on July 6, 2003, entitled, What I Didn’t Find in Africa.
"Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?
"Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
Wilson ’s claim that Iraq had not bought uranium from Niger was both misleading and false. Iraq had in the past and had recently endeavored to, according to the Nigerian Prime Minster in his conversation with Wilson. Wilson decided, agenda firmly in hand, that this concluded that Pres. Bush went to war in Iraq under false pretenses. It did the opposite. In fact, some of the thousands of documents taken from Iraq by US troops being translated into English have shown that the British intelligence is correct.
The Washington Times gave this summary from Tape ISGC-2003-M0003997:
"audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his aides underscore the Bush administration’s argument that Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.
"In addition to the captured tapes, U.S. officials are analyzing thousands of pages of newly translated Iraqi DOCUMENTS THAT TELL OF SADDAM SEEKING URANIUM FROM AFRICA in the mid-1990s."
OUCH!
The July 2004 Senate Intelligence Committee Report recorded several of Wilson’s lies, including that his wife, not the VP, sent him on the journey to Niger, that Iraq was not trying to procure uranium from Niger, and that Wilson also lied to a Washington Post reporter, saying that the British intelligence report concerning Iraq and Niger was forged. In the Senate Intelligence Committee Report, Wilson says he may have he may have "misspoken" to the reporter.
The Committee Report also states that Wilson spent three days in Baghdad with “Iraqi officials” in March 2003, days before the start of the war. Hmmmm…
Finally, contrary to leftist popular belief, Novak says Carl Rove did not “out” Valerie Plame. Novak called Rove in a 30 second conversation and asked if Plame is married to Wilson. Rove’s response was, “You know about that, too?”
Now perhaps we can move on to investigating real outing scandals, like who leaked classified information to the New York Times and Washington Post about secret CIA prisons in Europe, who outed the terrorist surveillance program, the terrorist phone tracking program and SWIFT, the terrorist bank tracking program.
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Reader Comments (22)
I have other comments over at my blog.
Good point, Rob.
Third time was the charm. Aubrey's suggestion worked!
We wish you a merry Fitzmas
We wish you a merry Fitzmas
Go cry in your beer
Keep up the good work.
Regards...
Do you right wingers know what Brewster Jennings was?
Let me enlighten you:
>>>"Brewster Jennings & Associates was a front company set up in the mid-1990s by the CIA for Valerie Plame, a classified status employee for the Agency whose identity may have been disclosed for political retaliation."
And more:
>>>"Compounding the damage, the front company, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, the name of which has been reported previously, apparently also was used by other CIA officers whose work now could be at risk, according to Vince Cannistraro, former CIA chief of counterterrorism operations and analysis. Now, Plame's career as a covert operations officer in the CIA's Directorate of Operations is over. Those she dealt with -- on business or not -- may be in danger. The directorate is conducting an extensive damage assessment. And Plame's exposure may make it harder for American spies to persuade foreigners to share important secrets with them, U.S. intelligence officials said."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_Jennings_&_Associates
And why was the work of Brewster Jennings & Associates important and relevant?
>>>"On Chris Matthews' Hardball Monday evening, just moments ago, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster confirmed what RAW STORY first reported in February: that outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson was working on Iran at the time she was outed (Watch the video of Shuster's report here).
RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna broke the story earlier this year, which went unnoticed by the mainstream media (Read our full story).
According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran.
Reports Shuster in this rush transcript: "INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON'S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION'S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL."
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/MSNBC_confirms_Raw_Story_report_Outed_0501.html
So go ahead, Bush-bunnies. Proclaim a "victory" that a CIA operation tracking Iran's nuke program was destoyed. Show me where your true loyalties lie. Apparently it's with the GOP, and not the security of America.
--Cobra
Bwah-hahahah ... too funny. Yeah, I believe wikipedia as much as you believe Carl Rove or George Bush!
Get better sources, please. ANND, Chris Matthews from SOFTBALL!!!! You think we are that gullible? Not.
sdmoderate said:
"Anyone could have figured out who Joe Wilson's wife was, that isn't the issue, it's the fact that Novak outed her as an agent for the CIA and that those in the White House confirmed that fact."
sdmoderate's assertion that Valerie was already known shows that she was not undercover (just as Novak asserted) and that she was not 'outed'. If you're not a covert agent, you cannot be outed. Robert Novak said in his interview, which I'll just bet Cobra conveniently neglected to watch, said that the CIA willingly gave him Plame's name.
I think it was COL Hunt in a Fox News green room back in '02 or '03 heard Wilson, in the green room, loud-mouthedly proclaim that Plame was his wife. He wasn't keeping it a secret. The Who's Who just buttresses that fact.
Watch the videos. I'm assure you libs will still want to argue, but that's your problem. Novak explains exactly what happened and he wasn't charged or arrested. I trust him over the libs, who love to lie to prove their point. Joe Wilson is a perfect example of this.
>>>"Yeah, I believe wikipedia as much as you believe Carl Rove or George Bush!"
OK.
>>>"The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday.
The company's identity, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, became public because it appeared in Federal Election Commission records on a form filled out in 1999 by Valerie Plame, the case officer at the center of the controversy, when she contributed $1,000 to Al Gore's presidential primary campaign.
"After the name of the company was broadcast yesterday, administration officials confirmed that it was a CIA front. They said the obscure and possibly defunct firm was listed as Plame's employer on her W-2 tax forms in 1999 when she was working undercover for the CIA. Plame's name was first published July 14 in a newspaper column by Robert D. Novak that quoted two senior administration officials. They were critical of her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, for his handling of a CIA mission that undercut President Bush's claim that Iraq had sought uranium from the African nation of Niger for possible use in developing nuclear weapons."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40012-2003Oct3?language=printer
If you don't believe the Washington Post, MSNBC or other news outlets, I don't know what to tell you. You wouldn't be the FIRST person to post on this blog that ignored facts.
Amy writes:
>>>" think it was COL Hunt in a Fox News green room back in '02 or '03 heard Wilson, in the green room, loud-mouthedly proclaim that Plame was his wife. He wasn't keeping it a secret. The Who's Who just buttresses that fact."
The fact that Joe Wilson was married to Valerie was not a secret. The fact that Valerie Plame was a NOC for the CIA and worked on anti-proliferation in a front company called Brewster Jennings and Associates was. That is precisely what the CIA states when they approached the Justice Department to begin this investigation.
Why is this so hard for you folks? Are you AGAINST the CIA for gathering information about WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION in Iran? Why are you FOR "outing" programs like Brewster Jennings and Associates, but AGAINST outing programs like NSA wiretaps on civilians, or SWIFT banking records?
What is your REAL agenda?
--Cobra
"Robert Novak said in his interview, which I'll just bet Cobra conveniently neglected to watch, said that the CIA willingly gave him Plame's name."
He either didn't watch it, or chose to ignore it. I'm still waiting on another "unnamed official" argument. It wouldn't be the first time he either ignored facts or or cited sources out of context without supplying the proper dates.
I'm not ignoring the facts. I'm just not trying to spin a conspiracy case out of it ... sorry, I don't see what you see at all. Hatred for the President and Carl Rove is blinding you to reality.
And, I'm not trying to stop any search for WMDs. In fact, I know that they are out there. I also know that in 1995 (Bill Clinton is in office, remember?) WHILE UNSCOM (UN-scum) were searching Iraq, Saddam was still working on Biological and Chemical weapons. Yep, they did not stop their programs at all, and no one saw what was going on. The reason no one saw? 'Cause the UN and Bill Clinton DID NOT CARE! Bill Clinton was too busy trying to be the next JFK and protect his legacy. All the while tons of money was floating around, people were killed every day there, no US boots on the ground, and people died. Because NO ONE was gonna lift a finger and help.
Oil for Food. Yeah, a stellar program by far, and started by the likes of Madeline Albright. What a swift kick in the geopolitical ass that was, and still is!
So, Cobra, are you as outraged at the destruction the Liberals are doing to our security and the security of our bravest who are fighting the GWOT? If you peel away the ends justifying the means, and truly look inward, maybe facts will start to look like facts again, and spin will begin to slow to a whim ...
AND, there are NO, and I say NO, NSA wiretaps on civilians. Anyone in the US Military is tapped every day for leaks - you are property of the US Govt, and that's the way it is. I don't care what they are listening to 'cause it ain't no top secret stuff coming from my house! I'm not afraid 'cause some of my friends are not Jack Booted Thugs poking around in my life. If you think that this program is bad, then I hope you've torn up your grocery store discount cards, credit cards, Starbucks card, library card, gas card, and ATM card! 'Cause they are all doing the EXACT same thing as the NSA program that is monitoring the CONNECT-to-CONNECT of a PHONE NUMBER ONLY!!!! Names, addresses, and particulars are associated once the FISA court order is issued - which takes maybe 24 hours, right?
This is why I do not take your word at face value, or any deeper. You do not know the NSA program at all and you have inferred something that is not true from a set of facts that are all over the place, so many times over.
Oh, and I'll say it again, Bill and Hillary ordered a *$%!#&^%@$@-LOAD of listening equipment that captured ALL FORMS OF SIGINT AND COMMINT!!!
Ya know, we just keep getting back to the same place. There is no point, Plame is a shill and this whole case is a farse. What's worse is, the Liberals are just trying to pull a Bill Clinton and throw up a smokescreen.
Sorry, Dave ...
>>>"Cobra, I'm still trying to figure out what Brewster Jennings & Associates have to do with this story. This was 7 1/2 years ago. She wasn't covert in '02/03."
Brewster Jennings was an ON-GOING covert operation for the CIA...until Novak's column. Valerie Plame was part of the Brewster Jennings front company. Novak outted both Plame and Brewster Jennings in his column, effectively shutting down the program, and putting in danger any operatives in the field associated with the project.
Tim writes:
>>>""Robert Novak said in his interview, which I'll just bet Cobra conveniently neglected to watch, said that the CIA willingly gave him Plame's name."
If the CIA "willingly gave him Plame's name" why on earth would they approach the Justice Department after Novak's column was published? Does that make any sense to you? Why would the CIA WILLINGLY destroy their own programs?
Fix writes:
>>>"AND, there are NO, and I say NO, NSA wiretaps on civilians."
And you have knowlege of this how? Because Bush told you so? LOL.
>>>"I don't care what they are listening to 'cause it ain't no top secret stuff coming from my house! I'm not afraid 'cause some of my friends are not Jack Booted Thugs poking around in my life."
There's this little ol' document called the Constitution. You should read it sometime. Especially that 4th Amendment to the Bill of Rights.
--Cobra
"And you know this how? Because Bush told you so?"
Do you have proof to the contrary? No. Get some proof, then come whine about NSA wiretaps. There is more than just the 4th Amendment in our law. We also have this thing called "innocent until proven guilty." You have yet to prove the "guilty."
Boo!